Month: November 2018

How to Overcome Disappointment by Adopting a New Perspective

One of the biggest differences between older folk and younger folk is hope.

Late 20-somethings don’t just live with vision, they tend to live with the belief that life will deliver.

For us soon-to-be-elderly mortals, we have a harder time living with the hope of our younger days. We’ve faced a mountain of disappointment, let-downs, betrayals, personal failures, etc. We’re like a kid who keeps getting socks for Christmas; we’ve come to expect nothing else

So we get boring. We settle.

Have pity. Some of us have had enough of “dreams.” Things didn’t work out. We got hurt, gave up, and can now be frequently found on the sofa in our bathrobes and black socks binge-watching someone else’s interesting life.

And for us Christians, it’s super hard to trust God when life isn’t going as we think it should.

But disappointment is part and parcel to a good life, especially a life that goes for the good stuff. The bigger the dream, the bigger the disappointments. It’s easy to get tired, discouraged, Continue reading How to Overcome Disappointment by Adopting a New Perspective

God Hates Sin: Especially the Sins We Think We’re Not Guilty Of

You don’t have to spend much time in church to learn that us Christian folk get confused about what God wants from us, what He wants us to avoid, and what He downright hates.

Some believe, for example, with every fiber of their being, that God hates all homosexuals. Many say that’s crazy, God loves everyone, but most of those folk don’t have any gay friends, or black friends, or liberal friends. If God loves all of these people, why don’t we?

Love doesn’t happen from a distance.

The answer? We’re confused. I don’t presume to clear everything up in one post, but I think, given our political discord, and all the hell that comes with it, a reminder of what God hates (and loves) might be a good thing this snowy Sunday AM.

7 Things God Hates

Let’s start with the Old Testament – tons of hateful God-things in that book. Most of the hate rhetoric in the American church today is Continue reading God Hates Sin: Especially the Sins We Think We’re Not Guilty Of

When Saints Seem Like Sinners, You Can Bet There’s a Change Coming

Following are excerpts from an article a friend wrote for Relevant Magazine. Michael Hidalgo is lead pastor/teacher of Denver Community Church and author of Unlost: Being Found by the One We Are Looking For, and Changing Faith: Doubts and Choices about an Unchanging God.

The highest vision of most churches is “safe.” We focus on making church predictable, comfy, typically full of people who think and live as we do. But, from time to time, God wants things to change, which, for whatever reason, means trouble, which won’t happen without troublemakers.

Troublemakers are the people who help God’s church make the changes He wants. They’re folks who have nothing to lose, and a clear vision of where things need to go. But because change can be so painful, these troublemaking servants of the Lord are often seen as “sinners.”

Change may be the only constant, but it is a terrifying idea for many. Many of us resist change, and are just fine with the way things are. Something in us knows change is a form of loss, and loss is painful. And change brings something else that few people like, the unknown.

When things stay the same, life is comfortable, predictable and familiar. And when that is threatened we become uncomfortable, uncertain and confused. We often find ourselves reacting against change, and we think of those leading change as troublemakers.

Continue reading When Saints Seem Like Sinners, You Can Bet There’s a Change Coming